Matryoshka Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 2 of my dds and I are going to spend a couple days at Universal Orlando in January - they want to go to Harry Potter World. One dd is coming back from Cuba, so it wasn't much more to divert her to Orlando for a couple of days. I haven't been to Orlando since I was 10yo. They had just finished building Space Mountain and Epcot didn't even exist. We are skipping Disney; both dds have been to Disneyland, and older dd was just at Disney last year with her senior trip (which didn't include any Harry Potter!) So, I'm thinking of staying on-site and not bothering to rent a car. Can I do this? Looks like there's a shuttle from the airport for $33 round-trip (I'll admit I'm a bit surprised the hotel doesn't run a complimentary shuttle... or did I miss it??) - so if we're on-site we shouldn't need a car for anything else? And I'm also thinking of staying at the airport the night we get there, as dd won't get there from Miami till 10pm - will we lose to much time the next morning? Should we just ask to check-in at the Universal hotel really late? Does the airport shuttle even run that late? We're only getting a 2-day pass. I'm thinking one day per park should be enough (one park has Hogsmeade and the other has Diagon Alley...) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrittanyM Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 We had 3 day park to park passes (went in February of this year) and felt like that was perfect. Make sure you get park to park because otherwise you won't be able to take the Hogwarts Express! I don't know about staying on site as we stayed at the Holiday Inn outside the park. We loved it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 We had 3 day park to park passes (went in February of this year) and felt like that was perfect. Make sure you get park to park because otherwise you won't be able to take the Hogwarts Express! I don't know about staying on site as we stayed at the Holiday Inn outside the park. We loved it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk LOL we are going loooow budget, so we're skipping the Hogwarts Express. I think I might be more bummed than my kids - they said they were fine with skipping it. They are 15 and 18. The 18yo is the biggest HP fan - her chosen college sport is Quidditch... the plan is one full day at each park. The multi-park pass is a big step up in price. We were going to do a 3-day pass (only about an extra $20 for the third day), but the only flight we could find out was at noon. Guess we didn't book soon enough? Any good ideas about food that aren't too $$$? When we went to Disney we stayed off-property, bought our own food at Trader Joe's and smuggled cheese sandwiches and trail mix into the park... we'd have breakfast and dinner off-site. But if we don't have a car, we'll need to buy food in the park or at the hotel... anyone know if the hotel by chance includes a continental breakfast?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 We stayed at Cabana Bay and used the complimentary transportation. We went in August a year ago. Cabana Bay is Universal's "value resort". It doesn't have all the perks of the other resorts, but you can add those on to your ticket if you want. However if you are going lower budget I think you can find a non park hotel. Many hotels provide transportation to the park. Later January would be lower crowds so you would not need to consider early park admission. I do think park-to-park admission is worth a splurge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Two day passes were enough for us. We did do park to park. We stayed at the Hampton on International Drive, which was cheaper than staying on site. They ran one shuttle a day that you had to sign up for to Universal. We ate a free breakfast there and then used our kitchenette for dinner. There is a papa john's pizza nearby that we ordered from, and a number of restaurants along that strip including a Walgreens with a decent grocery selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 The onsite hotels will have shuttles or a boat that takes you to the parks. Many offsite hotels have free shuttles to the theme parks. If you stay at one of the resorts Iyou can get early admission and a few of them also have Express Passes as part of the benefits. If you don't plan on doing both parks you'll have to decide if you want to see Hogwarts and Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and Platform 9-3/4. They're in two separate parks. I'd go for the former since it's the original. It's at Islands of Adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 The onsite hotels will have shuttles or a boat that takes you to the parks. Many offsite hotels have free shuttles to the theme parks. If you stay at one of the resorts Iyou can get early admission and a few of them also have Express Passes as part of the benefits. If you don't plan on doing both parks you'll have to decide if you want to see Hogwarts and Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and Platform 9-3/4. They're in two separate parks. I'd go for the former since it's the original. It's at Islands of Adventure. I'm going to look at the offsite hotels... good to know they have shuttles to the parks.. I'd like to avoid a rental car if I can. The non-park-hopper multi-day passes *do* let you go to both parks; it's just that you can only go to one park per day. So we can spend one day at Hogsmeade and one day at Diagon Alley, we just won't be able to go back and forth on the same day. Anyone have an opinion if we should spend the first night at an airport hotel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I'd definitely spend the first night cheap. You can check into your Universal Hotel at like 6 a.m. and still get early admission for that day. That's what we did when we went. One night on site, two early morning admissions. I want to say there was a mini fridge in the room, so maybe some yogurt or hummus, and granola bars and other shelf stable foods to save $$. If there was any way to swing park to park, I would really try to do that. It's so easy to walk from park to park and fit all the shows into your schedule when you have that flexibility. You can walk to the parks from at least the Royal Pacific where we stayed; it was very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Can I ask what days in particular you're going? If it's later in January, there's a Harry Potter festival that may affect your plans. (I'm not sure if it costs extra above and beyond the tickets or not, just saw something briefly posted about it.) Looks like it's from Jan 27-29. Here's a link with some more info if that affects you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 As an aside, the King Kong ride at Islands of Adventure opened recently, and the lines are insanely long. It is an awesome ride, but if you're going to try to prioritize your ride time, hit it first off in the day. The lines there were way worse than anything we encountered at Hogsmeade. Escape from Gringotts Bank had a long wait time at Universal Studios. We rode it twice back to back early one morning....but ride times in the afternoon were crazy long. Go the single rider line route if you want to cut down your ride wait time significantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 (edited) Can I ask what days in particular you're going? If it's later in January, there's a Harry Potter festival that may affect your plans. (I'm not sure if it costs extra above and beyond the tickets or not, just saw something briefly posted about it.) Looks like it's from Jan 27-29. Here's a link with some more info if that affects you. Fortunately, we'll be there the week before. :) Well, maybe if it doesn't cost more it's unfortunate, but we needed to schedule it right when dd was on her way back from Cuba. .. Edited November 22, 2016 by Matryoshka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 We were in Universal Orlando the last week of April 2016. WE STRONGLY URGE YOU to buy the ticket that allows you to go back and forth, between both UO parks, so you can ride the train, etc. 2 days should be a minimum for UO. If you end up renting a car, we rented from Dollar Rent a Car and had no issues with the car or with the company. If you do not rent a car, a childhood friend and his wife were there last December and they did not rent a car (he went to a convention or meeting). They took a Uber a couple of times after the meeting was over. ENJOY! He said if you sign up with the Uber App, you get a discount on your first Uber ride. If you have more than one Smart phone among you, you can sign up with Uber on each one and get discounts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 As an aside, the King Kong ride at Islands of Adventure opened recently, and the lines are insanely long. It is an awesome ride, but if you're going to try to prioritize your ride time, hit it first off in the day. The lines there were way worse than anything we encountered at Hogsmeade. Escape from Gringotts Bank had a long wait time at Universal Studios. We rode it twice back to back early one morning....but ride times in the afternoon were crazy long. Go the single rider line route if you want to cut down your ride wait time significantly. Oh, that's a question I should've asked... other than the HP stuff, what should we see? Assuming none of us really like big scary roller-coaster rides... hated Busch Gardens for this reason. There was pretty much nothing for me to ride... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 A lot of the rides at Universal are 3D video based. You're in a cart that moves up/down/sideways, but it's not a traditional tract based ride. When you say that you hate big scary roller-coaster rides, what is it that you hate--the motion, the drops, being spun in a certain direction, ???? That could help me help you narrow it down. As an example, Minions was one of our favorite rides---but there was the feeling that you were falling down for brief periods of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 The non-park-hopper multi-day passes *do* let you go to both parks; it's just that you can only go to one park per day. So we can spend one day at Hogsmeade and one day at Diagon Alley, we just won't be able to go back and forth on the same day. Oh, I missed that you were doing that. I thought you were only going to choose one park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Oh, that's a question I should've asked... other than the HP stuff, what should we see? Assuming none of us really like big scary roller-coaster rides... hated Busch Gardens for this reason. There was pretty much nothing for me to ride... If you are into HP, you will also be spending time in the stores. DD bought a Cape and a Magic Wand or whatever those are called. That store took an hour or so as I recall. I was not planning to be riding Coasters, but the first thing DD took my wife and me on was a Coaster. My wife thought she was going to die. She said she would never ride one again, but the next day(s) she rode more. Actually, the Coasters there are fairly mild. My wife went, 2 weekends ago, to a reunion, where she lived most of her life, in the Coffee growing region of Colombia. They went to the National Park of Coffee. When DD and I go with her, the next time, I believe I can ride their original Coaster, which is 1000 meters long, but they have a much newer one that I have never been on. I watched YouTube Videos of that one (It is called the "Krater" It is a very short ride (about 60 seconds?) but I think it is rougher than anything we rode on in UO or in WDW. Here's a video of the Krater: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 A lot of the rides at Universal are 3D video based. You're in a cart that moves up/down/sideways, but it's not a traditional tract based ride. When you say that you hate big scary roller-coaster rides, what is it that you hate--the motion, the drops, being spun in a certain direction, ???? That could help me help you narrow it down. As an example, Minions was one of our favorite rides---but there was the feeling that you were falling down for brief periods of time. I think for me it's the actual drop, and the anticipation of it. And the ones that corkscrew or go upside-down make me nauseous. Weirdly, virtual stuff doesn't have the same effect... I've watched an imax roller-coaster movie, and it was kinda fun. But I knew it wasn't real, and I could close my eyes if it was too intense. And for some reason I'm okay with Space Mountain, most probably because it's in the dark and I don't know what's coming. Please do NOT tell me how big that coaster is - I don't want to know. I love stuff like imax movies or Soarin Over California where you sort of feel like you're flying. That's a good level intensity without being nausea producing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I can't corkscrew or go upside down either. If you're ok with IMAX movies, I think you'll be ok with Despicable Me Minions and the Simpsons ride and Escape from Gringotts. Men In Black will also be ok. I became really ill after Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey, and I refused to ride Dragon Challenge. Flight of the Hippogriff was relatively mild. I liked the Jurassic Park River Adventure despite the short drop (my 3 yo was cool with the ride), and the King Kong ride was intense but still ok. We spent a lot of time just wandering through the HP shops, and we ate in both restaurants. If you can only pick one restaurant to eat in in the parks, we preferred The Leaky Cauldron > Three Broomsticks. Notably, the Cornish pasty at Three Broomsticks was so awful I couldn't finish it. I've eaten Cornish pasties in Cornwall. This wasn't it. The roasted chicken, fish and chips and sandwiches were all fine. There were six of us, so we pretty much ordered the menu. Also, dessert at the restaurants wasn't all that, but we did enjoy pastries at Honeydukes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I can't corkscrew or go upside down either. If you're ok with IMAX movies, I think you'll be ok with Despicable Me Minions and the Simpsons ride and Escape from Gringotts. Men In Black will also be ok. I became really ill after Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey, and I refused to ride Dragon Challenge. Flight of the Hippogriff was relatively mild. I liked the Jurassic Park River Adventure despite the short drop (my 3 yo was cool with the ride), and the King Kong ride was intense but still ok. We spent a lot of time just wandering through the HP shops, and we ate in both restaurants. If you can only pick one restaurant to eat in in the parks, we preferred The Leaky Cauldron > Three Broomsticks. Notably, the Cornish pasty at Three Broomsticks was so awful I couldn't finish it. I've eaten Cornish pasties in Cornwall. This wasn't it. The roasted chicken, fish and chips and sandwiches were all fine. There were six of us, so we pretty much ordered the menu. Also, dessert at the restaurants wasn't all that, but we did enjoy pastries at Honeydukes. This. I also got sick on my first ride of Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey, I was fine the second time. No clue why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 And for some reason I'm okay with Space Mountain, most probably because it's in the dark and I don't know what's coming. Please do NOT tell me how big that coaster is - I don't want to know. That's the reason I'm okay with Space Mountain - because I can't see. I can also ride The Mummy at Universal for the same reason. Roller coasters where I can see what's coming? No way. Like, you I enjoy IMAX movies and rides like Soarin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.